Farewell, My Little Friend
by knoteach
Summary: HANKY WARNING! Ezra and Chris find it hard to say goodbye.


Disclaimer: I make no claims to the characters in the following story. I recieve no money or other recompense from these writings. they are intended solely for the purposes of entertainment

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Author's Notes: This was written upon request for a friend that has recently lost a much loved pet. Having tissues available is much advised.

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Farewell, My Little Friend  
knoteach

Chris and Ezra sat side-by-side as they each petted Aces' patchwork coat. She was only twelve years old, but rough beginnings and a harsh life has sapped the little animal's life, even if it had never managed to break her spirit.

Ezra looked down at the dying cat with tears rolling down his face. He knew that at seventeen he should be too old to be crying, but right now he just didn't care.

Chris sat beside his son, one hand on the boy's shoulder, the other petting the little animal that had brought them together as family so long ago.

* * *

Ezra had only been living with Chris for a few months when Aces came into their lives. The little calico kitten could only have been a few weeks old when Ezra found her, the last survivor of a litter that had been tossed out on the trail's edge in a sack. Ezra had heard the weak, frantic meowing and hurriedly cut open the sack. 

When Ezra had insisted on taking the pitiful creature home, Chris, who was still struggling to find common ground with the enigmic boy that had been left in his care, wanted to object. Looking at the emaciated little animal, Chris didn't believe it would survive another day, and he didn't want the boy to have to see it die. But looking at those pleading green eyes as the boy promised he would take care of it, he hadn't been able to refuse.

For the next several weeks, Ezra had faithfully fed and cared for the kitten. After a while, things had started looking up for their little foundling. Chris, who didn't particularly like cats, wasn't too keen on having it around and tried to avoid the animal when ever possible, but he wasn't about the tell Ezra he had to get rid of it. As soon as the cat was up to walking about on her own, she started following Ezra everywhere. If you wanted to know where the cat was, you only had to look two feet from Ezra, the cat would be somewhere close by.

After a couple of weeks of hearing Chris simply refer to the animal as "cat," Ezra decided to give it a proper name.

Sitting down with his rescued pet in his lap, the then five-year-old Ezra gave the notion some intense thought. After a few minutes, Ezra brightened and turned the kitten around in his lap to look at some of the black and brown patches on her sides.

"Aces!" Ezra exclaimed.

Chris looked up at the grinning boy, but didn't get it at first. "Where did you get name that from, Ez?"

Carefully Ezra picked up the little animal and carried it over. Pointing to some of the more prominent spots, he explained, "See here's a diamond, and this one here looks kind of like a club, and this one's the heart, and this one is the spade!"

Chris looked at the splotches Ezra pointed to and sure enough, they did have vague resemblances to the suits on a deck of cards! "Then Aces it is," Chris agreed, tentatively rubbing the cat behind the ears. When Aces started purring, Ezra grinned hugely and Chris knew he had done something right.

For the next couple years, the boy and cat were inseparable. The cat slept curled up by the child's legs or even on top of his chest. If it were really cold, Aces would crawl under the covers and cuddle under his chin. If Ezra sat down to read, Aces would hop in his lap ad roll over for a bell rub. Anywhere the little boy when, there went the cat. She would even sit on the school house steps to wait for him when the boy was in school!

Chris relationship with the boy also improved during those years, but there was always a barrier of some type between them. Ezra never failed to be polite and obedient, but he wouldn't allow Chris to become emotionally close to him. Then it happened….

Aces was nearly killed when the cat tried to protect Ezra from a stray dog.

Aces had never gotten all that big, and though the dog was just mean, but thankfully not rabid, the animal was still several times Aces' size. Chris was close enough to kill the dog before it killed the poor cat, but Ezra was heart broken and sobbing as he picked up the battered body of his beloved pet.

Chris knew when he saw what was left of the cat that he should put the poor thing out of its misery, but he also knew that Ezra would end up hating him for the rest of his life. Confused and not knowing what to do, he had helped Ezra take the cat into the clinic and gotten Nathan.

With Nathan's help, he and Ezra had been able to nurse the little creature back to life, though Aces walked with a limp from then on. It was enough hat the cat had lived.

It was during those somber, worrisome weeks, that Chris and Ezra finally opened up to each other. It wasn't the first night, over ever the first week, but one night Ezra hadn't been able to control he fear that he was losing his cat, and he had broken down crying in Chris's arms. Chris had just held the sobbing boy, murmuring soothing words of comfort. In the hours after that, Ezra had confessed to Chris that Aces had been his confidant since the first day. That Aces had been the first to love Ezra for who he was, not what Ezra could do for them, or so he had thought.

He also confessed that he had waited a long time wondering when Chris was going to get tired of him and send him a way. Chris had held the then eight-year-old Ezra close and promised him that he would never send him away.

As the cat later recovered, Chris and Ezra had grown closer together, the two of them caring for the cat that was so precious to them both now.

For the last nine years, Aces had lived happily with them in Chris house. The dilapidated shack having long since given way to a proper house. She still slept every night in Ezra's room, but she became more friendly with Chris, even came to him wanting to be petted if Chris was in the same room with Ezra.

In the last couple years though, Aces had started to slow down. She wasn't able to jump on the furniture as much, and she would just lying around, instead of bugging them to play with her.

This morning Aces had disappeared. Both Ezra and Chris had searched the house high and low for their little pet. It had taken them a couple hours, but Chris had finally found her. She had hidden in the back of the barn, buried under a mound of hay.

Chris had gently picked up the limp animal, half afraid she had died already, but a pitifully quiet meow reassured him somewhat. Moving swiftly he carried the animal back inside and lay it down on his bed, since he didn't want Ezra to remember Aces dying in his room. Ezra might be seventeen now, but there were still some areas that he was very sensitive about and this cat was one of them.

Chris called Ezra back in from where he was working with some of the horses, and led him into this room and explained what was happening. They had discussed what might happen, but it was still hard to accept now that the time was here.

* * *

Chris heard the ratting wheeze as Aces struggled to breath get quieter and quieter, the tired little body losing it's fight for life. Finally after three hours of sitting there, wishing there were some way he could help, Chris felt Aces breathe her last. 

"Aces!" Ezra wailed as he tried to pick the cat up.

"No, Ezra," Chris gently pulled the boy away from the dead animal and pulled him close for a hug. Chris felt the jerks in Ezra body as he tried to contain his grief. "Let go, Ez. It'll be alright," Chris whispered in his ear, as tears fell unheeded down his own face. That permission was all that was needed to open the flood gates, and Ezra grabbed his father's shirt and sobbed.


End file.
